


Into The Hourglass

by ariawrites



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: A poisoning today, ATEEZ Storyline Challenge, ATEEZ Storyline Event, All Is Not As It Seems, Alternate Selves, Angst, Are ATEEZ kinda sorta maybe the bad guys?, Believe me I tried to make it about them but failed, But are they really dark?, Can you tell I'm not a smartiny?, Dark Ateez, Different Worlds, Dreams, Illusions, Implications galore, Mystery elements I guess if you squint, Oneshots are not my forte, Shockingly this isn't about pirates, What's a word limit?, surprise surprise, that's pretty much it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25172956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ariawrites/pseuds/ariawrites
Summary: In order to save one of them, ATEEZ have to venture into the hourglass and battle their way through the dreams it shrouds them in.Based on all the members snippets for the storyline event.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Into The Hourglass

**Author's Note:**

> Yooo,  
> So this is my entry for the storyline event and I'm going to be honest, this isn't really my best work. I'm cramming for finals right now and I had like one day to write this and then I spent a while tinkering with it but it's still not the best it could be I don't think. I'd need more time to work on it more and I might do that and improve it in the future, we'll see. I just really wanted to enter the event, because hello...writiny rise! 
> 
> Unfortunately, even though it's global you need a VPN to access the boards because the international fans are locked out otherwise :( So I thought I'd post it here seeing as I spent a lot of time on it that I should have spent studying...oops? Hopefully you guys might enjoy it! 
> 
> If anyone would be kind enough to go to the original post and like and comment, it'd mean the world to me to have a fighting chance <3 
> 
> [Original](http://ateez.kqent.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=gevent&wr_id=3730)

Hongjoong clinked his glass against that of his dark self. His own features staring back at him with a hint of a smirk, before he brought the glass to his lips. He didn’t notice that the liquid in his own glass was different. That it wasn’t leaving a healthy white froth at the side of the glass as it should be. He was too focused on ending this. On getting the answers they so desired. They had thought that their dark selves were born from their overwhelming desire for the treasure that they’d hunted for. They’d been hounding them from the start, as soon as they’d started out on their journey. They were always there, always a step behind them. Watching them. Trying to keep them from their treasure. They locked Yeosang into a glass case, threw them all into an Illusion that they’d struggled to free themselves from, chained Wooyoung and put them all into their own personal prisons. At least, that’s what they’d thought. But it seemed that might not have been the case. It seemed that there might be more to it than that. 

They’d gotten free again and again. They’d overcome everything these dark versions of themselves had thrown at them but they were tired. Which is why they’d accepted the offer of a truce from their doubles. They wanted to know  _ why  _ they’d been chasing them,  _ why  _ they’d been trying to stop them from getting to the treasure and see if they could come to some sort of compromise. Because things hadn’t been adding up. They’d broken free from the Illusion thanks to one of their dark selves, a hat and a mask placed in full view to try and jog their memories, a shadowy figure lurking at the end of a tunnel. Either there was a traitor amongst their doubles, or they’d been entirely wrong about things. So they’d come to meet their doubles on neutral ground, and they’d gotten their answers. The truth echoing around them in the silence. 

  
Hongjoong swallowed some of the yellow liquid, ignoring the burn. What he couldn’t ignore was the way his throat started to constrict not long after. 

“So you were the ones that called us here, why? And why wait until now to tell us all of this?” Hongjoong managed to get out. 

“You were quite hard to get hold of, you know. You assumed we were the enemy, even though we tried to help you.” his dark self pointed out. “We called you here to help us, but instead you ignored us. Focusing on the treasure instead of what we needed you to do.” 

“Which was?” Seonghwa asked, curiously. 

“It doesn’t matter now. It’s too late.” 

“What do you mean?” questioned Yeosang. 

“There are countless dimensions in this world, you know” Hongjoong’s dark self said, casually. Ignoring the question he’d been asked and swirling the liquid in his glass around. “And you’ve endangered every one. We made a mistake calling you.” 

“That’s a little bit harsh.” Wooyoung muttered. 

“Harsh? That’s the reality of the situation. You don’t understand the consequences of your actions.” 

“Then help us to understand! We’re here now, we’re listening to you...we can help. We  _ will  _ help you, just tell us what you need.” 

“It’s too late for that. What we need is for you to stay out of our way before you cause any more damage.” came the harsh reply. Hongjoong struggled to focus on what the man was saying as he struggled to breathe. “This is for your own good. You can’t help us, maybe you never could.” 

Hongjoong’s double shook his head slightly, then fixed his gaze on Hongjoong. Noticing the intense stare, the others turned to look at him as well. It didn’t take them long to realise something wasn’t quite right and they immediately jumped to their feet. Chairs falling backwards to crash onto the ground, glasses tipping over and drinks spilling. 

“Hongjoong!” yelled various voices, rushing to their leader. 

“What did you do?!” Yunho spat at their doubles. 

Hongjoong fought to stay conscious but it was a losing battle and slowly the world faded to black. As soon as Hongjoong slumped forward over the table, limp and completely senseless, chaos erupted. Half of them tried to rouse Hongjoong, while the other half threw themselves at their doubles. But they were too distracted from what had just happened and their doubles had no trouble overpowering them and then melting away into the shadows. 

The fight now over, all of them huddled around Hongjoong where he’d been laid down amidst the debris on the floor of the fancy room. Chairs were overturned, the chandelier had crashed onto the table in a shattered heap and snow was blowing in through the cracked and broken windows. 

“Hongjoong! Hongjoong wake up!” Yeosang shook him, but there was no response. 

“Is he….is he…” Mingi asked, fearfully. Seonghwa held two fingers to Hongjoong’s pulse point, the silence stretching on as he waited. 

“No. No he’s alive. Barely.” he reported moments later. 

“What do we do now?” Jongho asked quietly. 

“I don’t...I don’t know” Seonghwa muttered in response. 

“Wait, where’s San?” Wooyoung asked, glancing around. “SAN?!” he yelled. 

The only response was the sound of footsteps crunching over the broken glass on the floor. A man in black slowly appeared out of the shadows, a black fedora casting a shadow over his eyes and a mask obscuring the lower half of his face. The man’s eyes seemed to drift over each of them before coming to rest on Hongjoong. 

“I can help you.” came the low, hushed voice. 

“Why should we trust you? You’re one of them aren’t you?” Yunho accused. They couldn’t see  _ which  _ of them it was exactly, but it had to be. 

“Yes and no.” came the reply. “They weren’t your enemy, I thought that had been established. They’re just...doing what needs to be done. Look, the way I see it, you have two options. You can stay here, watch your leader die and then end up separated, miserable and locked out of the way in the rooms that were so kindly prepared for you before.  _ Or  _ you can do as I say and you can stay together.” 

“What’s the catch?” Jongho asked, suspicion colouring his voice. 

“Nothing too nasty,” he drawled as he pulled something glowing out of his coat. “Just that you go in here” 

“You must be joking.” Yeosang snorted. The man stared back at them in silence for a moment or two before replying. 

“I’m quite serious actually. Go into the hourglass and Hongjoong will be saved. You won’t be parted, you’ll be together as you’ve always wanted. You have my word.” 

“Yes, because your word is so reliable. We already trusted your word and look what happened!” Wooyoung argued. 

“That was your decision. Everything that’s happened to you has been  _ your  _ decision. You  _ chose  _ to see them as the enemy. You  _ chose  _ to come here. Not the universe or fate or the world being against you. It was all you.” he replied, calmly. “You created this. Now I’m offering you a way out and you  _ need  _ to take it.” 

“We’re not going in your weird glowy hourglass buddy” Mingi snapped.

“We have to!” Yunho argued. “We don’t have a choice. We have to save Hongjoong!” 

“What’s in there?” Seonghwa asked, eyes narrowed. 

“You’ll see. You might even learn something. It just depends on whether you want to take the harder, unknown path to stay together.” 

“Why are we arguing about this, we don’t have time!” Yunho cut in. All eyes turned to Seonghwa, the eldest and now the only one left in charge. He frowned at the ground, lost in thought as he weighed up the options before coming to a decision and raising his eyes up to the man in the black fedora.

“Okay...okay we’ll do it.” 

“This is  _ not  _ a good idea, Seonghwa.” Wooyoung whispered, furiously. 

“Hongjoong’s dying, and we’ve lost San! The easy choice might be to let them both go and just surrender, but if there’s a chance we can all be together we need to take it. We’ve worked too hard and come too far to end like this. To be separated.” Seonghwa argued back. Wooyoung sank his teeth into his bottom lip. 

“There’s lots to be found in here. You might even find him in here. San, that is.” the masked man coaxed. Wooyoung closed his eyes at the words. 

“Fine. Okay. Into the...glowy thing of doom it is.” he sighed. 

“Wonderful. Just remember that reality doesn’t suddenly come crashing in to destroy your dreams and wipe them away. That’s not how it works. It’s not the  _ reality  _ that makes you lose your dream; it is  _ your  _ decision.  _ You  _ are responsible. You always have been.” 

“What does that mea-” the words were cut off as a blinding flash of light engulfed them and they fell into darkness. 

* * *

Seonghwa was alone once again, he was always alone. He’d been abandoned so many times he’d lost count. By his parents, by the rest of his family and by his friends. Friends always left him as soon as his cool facade cracked and a sliver of his true self shone through. As soon as he opened up and revealed the side of himself he tried to hide in order to fit in. In order to not be alone. As soon as he made a mistake. No matter how much he tried to maintain the act, it inevitably always cracked and then they left him. Wanted nothing more to do with him, and Seonghwa could never figure out why. It was exhausting maintaining a certain image that didn’t ring quite true with who he really was, but if he wanted friends, if he wanted to be less alone in the world; then he had to become someone that he wasn’t. Someone with no flaws. Someone perfect so that there was never a reason for anyone to abandon him again. 

Seonghwa sighed as he watched his ex-friend’s backs disappear down the street, then turned to make his way towards home. If you could even call it that. He didn’t notice the slight figure until she’d crashed into him. Seonghwa stumbled back a few steps, tripping over his own feet and tumbling down to the ground. 

“I’m so sorry, are you okay?” Seonghwa asked, raising his head to look up at the girl he’d bumped into. She ignored him, making no indication she’d even heard him and rushing away with her head down. Her scent lingered though, long after she’d gone from his sight. It reminded him of the ocean and sunny days. It seemed...familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. Shrugging off the encounter, Seonghwa started to get to his feet but his hand caught something on the ground as he braced himself against it. He closed his fingers around it, picking it up as he rose to his feet. It felt like metal, very cold metal. Once he was standing again, he slowly opened his palm to reveal what was inside it. 

_ A bracelet?  _

Seonghwa stared at the metal in his palm. The bracelet’s design was simple and made of plain silver. There was nothing special about it, nothing too intricate or fancy.  _ It must belong to that girl, she must have dropped it when I crashed into her. I should return it to her but I don’t even know her name, let alone an address.  _

The setting sun caught the metal and it glinted, reminding Seonghwa of the sun reflecting on the ocean waves. Glittering and sparkling. The girl's ocean scent surrounded him as he looked at the bracelet, entranced by it and something started to tickle at the back of his mind. It was like he’d forgotten something and his mind was trying to remind him, but something was blocking it. 

“Open your eyes” a distinctly female voice seemed to whisper in his ear, but when he spun towards it...no-one was there. A stabbing pain suddenly shot through his skull and he clutched his head. The sound of the ocean waves echoing in his ears as everything faded away and he fell into a vision. No, not a vision, a memory. A memory of eight boys, himself included, and the deep blue sea. 

  
  


_ We just going on...  _

* * *

  
  


Yeosang made his way through the dark, late night streets. Kicking at the ground as he went. He’d always been told by adults to look up at the stars in the night sky. That they’d shine brightly as a beacon of hope and light to guide you home. Looking up at the night sky, he’d been told, would remind you how big and wonderful the world was. But he disagreed. Looking up at the night sky did nothing but make him feel small and alone in a very big, wide world and he hated that feeling. Because it felt  _ wrong.  _ The more he’d taken their advice and the more he’d looked, the more he felt a niggling sense that something was wrong. That he wasn’t supposed to feel this way. That he wasn’t supposed to be this alone. 

Yeosang had always been a loner, he was shy and quiet and found it difficult to make friends. People thought he was weird because he wasn’t that outgoing and kept to himself but why wouldn’t he? No-one ever took the time to approach him. To try and make conversation with him and actually wait for him to put together an answer. So he remained isolated and alone in his own little world. 

The night sky had only served to foster an uncomfortable feeling, one that made it harder for him to push aside the hurt and carry on each day. It made him feel as if something wasn’t  _ right.  _ As if something was missing but he didn’t know what. Yeosang hated that feeling more than anything, so in a bid to combat it he stopped looking up and kept his eyes fixed on the ground. 

They might shine for everyone else who bothered to look, but the stars didn’t shine in the night sky that  _ he  _ was looking at. They never did. As he continued to make his way down the empty street, a girl’s voice started to drift through the silence. The song brought Yeosang to a stop as he strained to listen to it. He was sure he hadn’t heard the song before but for some reason the tune felt oddly familiar. 

_ I’ve got the answer…  _

Yeosang stumbled as pain seared across his brain. Flashes coming to him of two shadowy figures that he felt a sense of familiarity with. White specks were raining down from the sky to pile around their feet, dusting their clothes and hair. He blinked and the white vanished, replaced by the sidewalk he’d been standing on before. He blinked again and the white was back, those white specks falling once again. Yeosang followed the direction they were coming from, looking for the source and up to the night sky for the first time in a long time. He tried to see where the flecks were coming from, tried to locate the voice floating through the air around him but all he could see were the stars in the night sky...and this time they were  _ glowing.  _

Yeosang felt his eyes drawn to one star in particular, glowing brighter than all the rest and without thinking he started to head towards it. When the memories started to trickle into his mind faster and faster, he broke into a run. 

* * *

Mingi gazed around the dance studio one last time, taking in the polished wooden floors, the large mirror and the fancy sound system. This was where his dream ended, though he wished that wasn’t the case. For as long as he could remember, Mingi had loved dancing. All he’d wanted was to dance and perform. He never felt more alive than when music was playing loudly and his body was moving to it, making up the moves as he went along. Dancing allowed him to be free. Free from the dreary, hard life he’d been locked into. 

It wasn’t his parents fault, they’d tried so hard to give him everything he could want or need. They made sure he never went hungry. They made sure he had everything he needed in the way of school supplies. They made sure he always had nice clothes to wear. They gave him everything they could despite their financial struggles, but this was the one thing it seemed they couldn’t give. 

Money had always been a struggle for them, their business pouring out more money than they could take in but his parents had never refused him anything before. That was why he’d been allowed to join the expensive dance academy for dance lessons, the dance studio becoming his sanctuary from the stresses of home and school. He was frequently found there long after classes had ended, perfecting the choreography they’d been taught or coming up with his own to vent his emotions. This month, there was going to be a showcase. All kinds of industry people would be attending, including scouts. This was supposed to be his moment, his chance to change his life. He’d dazzle the scouts with his dancing prowess and they’d offer him a contract. They’d take him on as a trainee and he’d get to make his life entirely about performance. Or maybe he’d be hired as a backing dancer, it didn’t really matter to him as long as he could dance. 

But that dream had suddenly come crashing down around him. 

“There’s no more money Mingi, I’m so sorry” his mother had broken the news to him gently. 

At first he’d been angry, wanting to scream and rage and then he’d just been devastated. Crying a river of tears and wailing that it wasn’t  _ fair.  _ That this was his  _ dream. What am I supposed to do without a dream to keep me going?  _

Eventually, he’d come to terms with it, telling himself that this was just how life was. That dreams weren’t for everyone. It just stung him so badly because he’d been so  _ close  _ to his own dream. But that was all in the past. It would never happen for him now and he’d gotten used to that. 

_ Living without dreaming is a normal thing for a guy like me.  _ He told himself as he took in the dance studio.  _ Dreams are too lavish for the poor.  _

He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of the thought as he turned from the dance studio and started to walk away. Something dark flashed in the mirror to his left and he paused just as a loud screech shattered the silence of the practice room. The speakers turning on entirely by themselves and starting to play. The sound was tinny at first, getting louder and louder until he could finally make out what it was. 

_ I won’t give up, up… _

The words echoed throughout the practice room, seeming to mock him. He felt like he should know that voice, like he’d heard it before but he couldn’t place it. Frowning, Mingi wracked his brain for the answer. It felt like it was right there, just out of his reach. Just like his dream. 

_ I’m tired of giving things up, I’m tired of letting things go.  _

He thought, before reaching towards that little glimmer of knowledge. Pain seared everything white, leaving recognition in its wake. Everything flooding back in flashes. A dark corridor, a long table filled with paperwork...

“I have to find them.” 

* * *

Jongho threw ball after ball at the hoop, his heart and focus weren’t really in it so most of them hit the rim and bounced away across the court. Too lost in thought to even try and aim and just throwing in the general direction of the basket. All he wanted was to be here, doing what they’d always done together. Before. Trying to summon some ghost of his friend so that he wasn’t alone anymore. So that he could tell him he was sorry. But no matter how many balls he threw, no matter how many shots he missed there was never the echo of his friend’s laugh as he teased him for it. The echo of his encouraging words to just try again. To just keep it up. 

With a sigh, Jongho tossed the last ball, watching it bounce across the ground before taking a seat on the bench nearby. He surveyed the balls scattered around him, picking one up and turning it over and over in his hands as he studied it. Memories playing throughout his mind as he did so. Laughter and teasing, long talks and riverside walks. The endless competitions to see who could score the most baskets or who could run the fastest. Carefully, Jongho placed the ball next to him on the bench before sagging in defeat. Letting his hands dangle and heaving out a weary sigh. It was all over now. 

_ I’m so sorry. I was too young to know how to reach out to you, my lost friend. Where am I now, where should I go?  _

He wondered as he stared at the ground, tears filling his eyes. He’d been his best friend in all the world. The person he was closest to and really opened up and let in. The person he could be himself with and Jongo didn’t think that he’d ever find that again. He’d seen his friend drifting from him, noticed the distance slowly opening up between them but he hadn’t known how to reach out and close it. How to keep his friend by his side. He hadn’t known the words to say or perhaps he had, but he’d been too afraid to say them. Despite how close they were, perhaps he’d been too afraid to really show how much their friendship meant to him. To show that amount of vulnerability to another person. Either way, it was too late now. His friend was gone and he was all alone. He felt...lost. Lost and alone with no-one by his side and he had no idea what to do next. 

_ I don’t know what I should do now, it’s been just the two of us for so long that without you I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t know how to go back to a time when you weren’t my friend.  _

Jongho sniffed and raised his eyes to the sky, blinking back the tears. Frowning, he sniffed again. He could smell something burning, the scent of smoke getting sharper by the moment. He glanced around wildly, his gaze finally settling on a shadowy figure standing beside an old oil drum. Flames licked up into the sky from inside the barrel, obscuring his vision of the culprit standing on the other side. 

_ Ready now for the next journey?  _

The question came to him, floating over the crackle of the flames. Jongho winced as an image speared into his thoughts. A long, endless flight of stairs, flames, smoke curling into the night sky and a flag. A steady drumbeat trickled through the pain in his head, almost like a call to arms. 

“I know exactly where I should go” he muttered to himself, bolting to his feet. 

* * *

San stared out of the window of the moving truck. Everything he and his parents owned was once again packed into a multitude of boxes and sandwiched onto the back of a moving truck. Another new city. Another new house. Another new school. He was tired of it. He was so sick of his life. Of both of them, overlapping inside his head. The life he was currently living, in which his parents moved constantly because of their jobs. Always seeming to uproot him as soon as he’d become comfortable. As soon as he’d gotten used to a new school and a new town and actually managed to make some friends. He was fast learning that there was no point to the exercise. Going to all of the effort to form friendships with people he’d just be saying goodbye to in a couple of months. Maybe a year if he was lucky. It was all so pointless.

As for his other life? Or should he say, his real life? He was sick of that too. Playing both sides to keep his friends safe was exhausting. Smiling and laughing with them while they ventured out to look for the treasure, for Utopia, while all along secretly working with their doubles. It had been for their own safety, so that he could protect them and make sure nothing could harm them. He’d saved them from the illusion after all. Though he wasn’t sure the others would see it his way. 

  
He’d had to work with the other side to shield them, even though it meant causing obstacles for his friends. Because he’d been the only one to wonder and question and listen. He’d tried to get the others to see the truth but they’d been so set on the treasure he hadn’t been able to sway them. Instead all he could was try to nudge them in the direction needed and away from the wrong path, not that it always worked. He’d danced a fine line between both sides, trying to appease their doubles and follow their instructions, while also trying to keep his relationship with them a secret from the others. But he’d failed and now they were here. He knew this needed to happen, there was no other way now but he was just so tired. 

He missed them. He missed feeling like he was truly one of them, but they were scattered throughout this world that seemed familiar. A memory of their past, but also not. He had no idea where they were right now, or how to go about finding them and he’d get no help from the doubles. Not anymore. 

As San watched the scenery speeding past, everything blurring into one long, colourful streak, San made a decision. 

_ This...it’s almost like a fresh beginning. So I’m going to find them. I don’t care how long it takes me, I’ll find them and get all of us back together. I’ll explain everything to them and fix things with them. I know they’ll understand, they have to. They’re my friends. I might not have any idea where the others are exactly, but I know that he’s awake. It was the least I could do and it was the only concession they would give me. It made sense to all of us. He’s probably already looking for them, there’s no way he’ll sit still. I just need to find him and then together we’ll track down the others. Maybe  _ she  _ will even help us out, I’m sure she doesn’t want us here anymore than we want to be here. Once we’re all reunited, we’ll track down Hongjoong and the cure that he needs. In fact, I know exactly where to start looking.  _

As soon as the moving truck stopped at a red light, San unbuckled his seatbelt and wrenched the door open. Jumping out and ignoring the shouts that erupted after him, he started to run down the desolate, empty road. 

* * *

Yunho shouldered his backpack as he left the University building and walked out into the darkening sky. Classes had been more exhausting than usual that day, but he loved it anyway. He was studying something he genuinely loved and he couldn’t be more excited about his future. Of course, first he’d have to make it through four years of college and actually graduate...but after that he’d finally get to follow his dreams. 

As he started to walk down the steps from the building, he felt his phone vibrate for the umpteenth time in the last hour. His friends had been messaging him nonstop, most likely coming up with a plan for the weekend ahead. Rolling his eyes fondly, he pulled his phone out from his pocket to check. As he did so, he felt his shoulder knock into someone. 

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking!” he apologised, looking at the person he’d bumped into. Yunho blinked as he took in the person before him. It was a boy, around his age and he was dressed as a...pirate? 

“No worries” the boy replied. Noting Yunho’s stare, he let out a self-conscious chuckle.

“Uh, the History department’s holding a fancy dress party to break the ice and bring everyone closer or something” he explained. “I don’t really care, a party’s a party!” 

  
“Oh, um...awesome? Have fun I guess” Yunho answered, frowning slightly. 

“Have a good night!” the boy replied cheerfully before rushing off. 

_ How come we didn’t get a party to get to know everyone on our course? It’s a bit late in the semester but better late than never I guess. Who’d have thought the History department would-  _

Yunho jumped as he turned away from the boy and found someone else blocking his path. The person was hooded, but from the slight frame and the person’s stature he thought that it might be a girl. The hooded figure tilted their head to one side, studying him. 

“Will you be my friend?” they asked. 

“Uh…..” Yunho was saved from answering when bright sunlight took over his vision, which was strange because he was sure it had been night not two seconds ago. A voice was singing, though the song had no words, and he was standing in the middle of a desert. Just ahead of him, he could see seven figures walking across the sand. One of whom was holding a large flag. The vision was suddenly ripped away and he was once again standing on a dark street, his mind reeling as it was assaulted with memory after memory. Yunho looked around wildly for the girl but she was gone. A distant buzzing drew his attention back to the phone in his hand and he absentmindedly read the latest message. 

_ Hyung?! Hello? I know you’re out of class by now, stop ignoring our messages!  _

Yunho’s mind fixed on one word in particular.  _ Hyung.  _

“Hongjoong!” he yelped as he remembered the elegant room, the yellow liquid and the events that had unfolded afterwards. “Where is he?” he wondered aloud. “Where are the others?” 

_ I need to find them, but how? I don’t know where to start. They could be anywhere.  _

Yunho spun around as he tried to decide what to do next, a flier on a nearby noticeboard catching his attention. 

**UTOPIA**

_ Can you see the changes?  _

_ Can you hear those voices?  _

  
  


Yunho’s eyes skimmed the rest of the flyer and he  _ knew  _ it was one of them. His eyes locked onto the address and he ran. Phone clutched tightly in his hand.  __

_ It started with you, but it’s also my dream now. It’s all of ours. But without my brother, without my hyung, there’s no meaning to this dream. What am I supposed to do if you disappear? How are we supposed to carry on? Don’t worry Hongjoong. I’ll find the others and then we’ll find you.  _

* * *

Wooyoung walked up the steps to the house he’d commandeered. It was old and uncared for, green vines trailing up the outside of it and covering most of the brickwork. It had been abandoned, so he saw no harm in taking it over. He needed a place to call the others to and the house suited his purpose just fine. With any luck, it could be their new base of operations once they’d all found him. He just had to hope that they could shake off the dreams shrouding them and find his messages. He’d pasted fliers everywhere he could think of, though he chose not to think about the fact that they might not be in this city. He was using the last of his hope to pray that they were all at least relatively close even though they’d been separated once again. 

_ He lied. He said that we could stay together and maybe we are. We’re all in this place somewhere, but we’re still alone. We’re all still lost. I knew I was right, I knew this was the wrong choice. But I gave up on the easy way out to be with my friends. We all did. But we were wrong.  _

While it would have been easier to simply do as the masked man had wanted and allow themselves to be separated, they’d made the wrong choice. They’d just wanted to stay together and try to save Hongjoong but now they were in some other world. Separated from each other and alone, while Hongjoong was somewhere dying. At least if they’d taken their first option they might have found a way out, found a way to get to each other and then save Hongjoong. But now they were scattered, fighting against the dreams that they’d been wrapped in. As the masked man had said, it was their decision to lose their dreams. If the others couldn’t make that choice, couldn’t break free, then all was lost. It would be up to him and him alone to try and find his way to Hongjoong. To try and find a way to save him and then save the others. 

For some reason, the dream hadn’t taken him as strongly as it was supposed to, as he was sure it had with the others. It had been there, on the fringe of his consciousness. A life in which he made a series of poor decisions just to stay with his friends, not unlike the decision he’d made in that room. Giving up on an easy life just so that he wouldn’t be alone. So that he could fit in. It was a cruel parallel. After an initial sense of disorientation, the real fighting against the fake, Wooyoung had pushed through and come back to himself. Perhaps because he’d gotten used to the illusions their dark selves loved to torment him with when they’d had him chained up. Whatever the reason, he was awake. 

Wooyoung stared back at his reflection in the mirror that decorated the large, bare room he’d wandered into. 

_ I’m only going to think about one thing now; fixing this and saving Hongjoong. Saving all of us from whatever world it is that they’ve trapped us in. I’ll call the others to me and if that doesn’t work, if they’re too far into the illusion then I’ll track them down myself somehow. I’ll find a way to free them and find a cure for Hongjoong. Knowing them, there’s probably one hidden in here somewhere. He might have lied about us staying together, or at least twisted the truth, but he only mentioned Hongjoong dying if we went with option one which means...there has to be a way to save him in here, and I will find it.  _

A vicious pounding on the heavy wooden front door startled him from his thoughts. Wooyoung tried to push down the hope that clawed its way up his throat as he rushed towards it and threw it open.  _ Yunho.  _

  
Yunho was right there, panting hard as he stared at Wooyoung. Before either of them could say anything, movement over Yunho’s shoulder caught his attention. A flash of blonde hair.  _ Yeosang.  _

_ Two down, five more to go.  _

* * *

Hongjoong came to with a groan. He was lying on something soft...a couch. Hongjoong started to sit up, squinting in confusion as the dream that he’d surfaced from clung to him. 

_ The man with the black fedora said “there are countless dimensions in this world” and I remember strange places. A desert, sea, a pirate ship floating in the sky...but when I opened my eyes it was, a dream. A strange dream that’s left me feeling a sense of...loss?  _

Hongjoong tried to shake the feeling off as he sat up and stretched. A bright glowing light caught his attention as he did so and he turned slightly to the side. There, on the table to his left amidst scattered pens and paper, was a glowing hourglass. One that he was seeing for the first time but something about it seemed strange and it wasn’t the fact that it was glowing. 

Hongjoong leaned in closer to the hourglass to get a better look at it, and that’s when he noticed it. The sand in the hourglass was flowing backwards, from the bottom to the top. 

_ Something’s not right. This is reality, the sand should be flowing the other way and it definitely shouldn’t be glowing.  _ Hongjoong jolted with realisation.  _ I’m still dreaming. I never woke up.  _

With that realisation, Hongjoong was ripped out of the dream and into the true waking world. He found himself lying on the cold, hard ground. Dust was scattered across his surroundings, no not dust. Sand. White sand. Hongjoong scrambled to his feet. The room he was in was circular with a ceiling so high all he could see were black shadows. As he looked around, he couldn’t see any walls. His gaze fell to his feet and he froze. He was standing in the middle of what looked like a clock. Black lines marking the hours all around the edge, while a longer line was stuck just before what he took to be the line symbolising 10. 

_ What is this place?  _

Hongjoong tentatively stepped out of the circle, stepping up on to the wide platform ringing the clock face, and then up again on to the next one. He walked around the space, examining every inch but he couldn’t find a thing. No exit, no door or window. And no-one else. It was when he was looking around the top-most platform that he noticed it. Someone was staring back at him. Hongjoong jumped, before gathering the courage to step closer. The face staring back at him slowly coming into focus.  _ It’s…me. Not the other me, but...me.  _ Realisation dawned as he stared at his own reflection. 

_ The walls are glass...I’m in the hourglass. I have to be. But how? And where are the others. They wouldn’t have left me, there’s no way but they’re not in here with me. Maybe they’re outside still?  _

  
But as Hongjoong peered through the glass he couldn’t see them, couldn’t see anything but endless darkness. Slowly, Hongjoong looked up into the shadows, searching for something.  _ Anything.  _ The floor he was standing on shuddered as a tick reverberated throughout the room. Glancing back to the clock face Hongjoong saw that the hand had finally reached the 10 with a big, shuddering jolt. A noise from above had him looking up. There was a light shining through the darkness, not unlike the glow from the doors they’d come across not too long ago. 

_ They’re up there. I need to get to that light, I need to get to them and then I need to get us out of here. Hold on, I’m coming.  _

  
  



End file.
